A Link to the Future
by lemnlime7
Summary: Something goes wrong when Zelda tries returning Link to the past in OoT. While looking for a way to return to his own time, Link will discover that the legend hasn't been passed along as accurately as it should have been across the ages...


A/N: This fanfic kinda has a twist ending. Can you guess what it is before the end?

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

"Give the ocarina to me," the princess of destiny commanded. "As a Sage, I can return you to your original time with it." After receiving the ocarina, she continues. "Now, go home, Link. Regain your lost time! Home...where you are supposed to be...the way you are supposed to be..."

Holding the Ocarina of Time to her mouth, she began to play her lullaby, a soothing song with the capacity to magically transport the Hero of Time back to his youth. Link became enveloped in a column of blue light which extended all the way to the heavens. He felt himself beginning to float upward and, moments later, he was gently deposited in another location.

Except...this place clearly wasn't the Temple of Time where he was supposed to return the Master Sword. In fact, he wasn't sure he was even still in Hyrule anymore. Everything looked so...so different. So...foreign. Sprawling across a large area all around him was a flat, dark gray rock-like surface that had white lines painted all over it in some strange pattern of open-ended rectangles. Positioned between many of these lines was an assortment of odd-looking, multi-colored wheeled... _carriages?_...of some kind, but strangely, no horses to pull them were anywhere within sight.

Link was thoroughly puzzled by this mystical place he was sent to. Had Zelda's magic somehow malfunctioned? He wasn't sure if such a thing could happen—he was no expert on the inner workings of magic, after all, since he had never been granted with that gift.

Being without any better options, he headed toward the nearest building to seek assistance in returning home. The sign over the structure was in some funny-looking foreign language. The words read 'Game Stop.'

Stepping inside, he noticed the place was devoid of people at the moment. This seemed to be a store of some kind but it lacked the usual sundries he was accustomed to seeing. The majority of this shop was lined with shelves full of boxes covered in artwork and more foreign words.

Suddenly, a young female with a long brown ponytail appeared from a door in the back of the store. "I'm sorry—we're out of stock on the new _Smash Bros._ game. I'll have to reorder that when I..." The woman trailed off as she laid eyes on Link. The sight of him in his forest-green Kokiri tunic, trailing green hat, tall leather boots and white leggings caused her eyes to go wide.

Link noticed immediately that her clothing was quite different from a Hylian damsel's typical garb. In fact, she even seemed to be wearing some form of trousers which, in Hyrule at least, would only ever be worn by the masculine women of the Gerudo tribe.

Link was hesitant to speak, fearing a language barrier. "I'm sorry to trouble you, fair maiden, but would you happen to know in which direction lies the kingdom of Hyrule?" He was absolutely astonished to find that, although he formed the words in his head in Hylian, he actually spoke them in another language entirely, with his mouth moving in ways it had never moved before!

The woman simply stood in place, mouth agape, as if paralyzed by a Redead.

"Um...Madam?" Link asked, concern growing on his face.

She finally responded, albeit slowly, as if in a daze. "Uh...yes...I'm sorry. I went to go check our stock of a game for a customer who was in here a moment ago but...it appears he's already left." After pausing a few moments, she said, "I...I hope you don't mind me saying this, but that costume you have there—it's amazingly detailed! The clothes, the hair, the face—it's all just so...familiar. Exactly how I remember..." She smiled in a way that suggested she was reminiscing, followed by a light laugh. "You know, usually I only see people come dressed up when we have a launch party for a popular new game, but I guess for an uber fan like you, that's not often enough, huh? I'm a huge fan of the _Zelda_ games too, by the way. Of course, my favorite is easily _Ocarina of Time_. It was my first _Zelda_ game and I've beat it, like, a million times."

By some miracle, Link was able to understand everything she said, even though it was, in reality, all foreign to him. "You know about the Ocarina of Time?!" Link asked anxiously. "Tell me, do you know where Princess Zelda is?! I need to know how to return to Hyrule!"

Link swiftly approached the woman until he was standing directly in front of her. She was taken aback by his exuberance, lifting an eyebrow out of intrigue. "You _really_ like to stay in character when you cosplay, huh?" Deciding there would be no harm in playing along for the time being, she stepped over to a nearby shelf, picked up a box, handed it to him, and said, "You'll find all the answers in here."

The Hylian was stunned at the remarkable resemblance of the handsome young man on the box to his own (not at all unattractive) self.

 _This could only mean one thing,_ he thought. _Somehow, Zelda's magic must have accidentally sent me to a point in the future...and from the look of things, this is_ very _far in the future._

Link was quite pleased to discover that, even after so long, people still remembered the legend. Yet the knowledge of roughly _when_ he was still didn't answer the question of _how_ he would return to his youth, back to the Hyrule he knew, but he figured he might be able to glean some clues from careful study of the legend's record...and, apparently, this box contained that very record.

"I would like to purchase this product, please, madam."

The woman got a rise out of the unusual level of formality he used in reference to her. "Great! I can ring you up for that, _sir_." While signaling to the counter near the storefront, she couldn't help but giggle at the silliness of this whole scenario. Link followed her there and the woman promptly waved some wand-like object over the box. "That'll be twenty-one thirty-nine," she announced.

Link scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Twenty-one thirty-nine? What do these numbers mean? Is this...some sort of puzzle?"

One of the clerk's brows raised up high above the other. She spoke a bit slower this time. "It's twenty-one dollars and thirty-nine cents, sir."

Dollars? Cents? These words held no meaning for Link, although he deduced that these must be the terms for the local modern currency. "Um...do you accept rupees?" he asked sheepishly.

That was it for the store clerk. She could no longer keep the laughter from erupting as a torrent of cackles soon emerged without restraint, forcing her to hold onto her sides. Through the laughter, she managed to remark, "I bet you win all kinds of cosplay contests like this, don't you?" When she had finally recomposed herself enough to speak normally, she wiped away a tear before adding, "Tell ya what—this here's a used copy in less than mint condition anyway so I'll give it to you, free of charge. You have really just made my day by coming in here, dressed like that." She smiles widely as she once again takes in the extraordinary sight of him.

Link was pleasantly surprised by the woman's generosity. She returned the box to him which Link promptly opened, only to find...a small square of some kind? What kind of diminutive tome was this? Only one of the fabled Minish would be able to read from such a tiny scripture!

His puzzled look gave him away, causing the shopkeeper to say, "Ah, lemme guess—you don't have this kind of technology where you come from, eh?" She remained in contemplation for a few moments before formulating an idea. "You know what? I got a good feeling about you. I just know I can trust you so I'm gonna let you borrow my own personal 3DS. You'll bring it back when you're done, I trust? I won't have to send a pack of moblins to reclaim what is rightfully mine?" She chuckled.

Link nodded his head in agreement. Not like a bunch of moblins would ever stand a chance against him anyway...

"Great!" she said energetically. Reaching into her back pocket, she retrieved her 3DS and inserted the _Ocarina of Time_ cartridge before handing it to him. "Here...now you're ready to save Hyrule!" Although Link had a strong desire to hold it over his head, he decided against it this once. He gave his thanks before leaving the store. The shopkeeper stared after him for a long time after he was gone. She knew she wouldn't soon forget _this_ customer.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

A few days later, Link returned to the store looking thoroughly upset. The woman he had seen previously was there again, busy removing items from shelves in the middle of the store. A young male customer was also in the store perusing merchandise. After glancing in his direction, the shopkeep was delighted to see her new favorite customer make his return.

"So glad you're back! How'd you like the game?" she inquired.

He replied through gritted teeth, struggling to contain an anger-fueled outburst. "This...' _game'_ , as you call it, is _riddled_ with inaccuracies. To give just one example, Ganon is at least _three_ times the size he's portrayed as in this 'game,' bigger than even one of your so-called 'White Castles,' which, by the way, lack even the bare minimum level of regalia that one would expect of any _respectable_ castle. Another thing—Navi most certainly _isn't_ that _damned_ _annoying_ because if she _was_ , I would have already swatted that little bugger faster than you can say, "Hey! Look! Listen!" And one _other_ thing, to set the record straight—in case the people of your era hadn't noticed, I'm _not_ mute! Sure, maybe I never said anything that was _worthy_ of being remembered throughout the centuries, but why was I made out to be quieter than a frozen Beamos statue?!"

With an annoyed ' _hmph_ ,' Link returned the 3DS to the clerk. He was still no closer to figuring out how to get back home, but at least he knew he wouldn't be needing _that_ anymore.

"Sorry you didn't like it,"she sincerely apologized as he stormed his way out of the store in disgust.

The young customer turned to the shopkeeper, saying, "Geez...you get a lot of nutjobs like that around here?"

She could only laugh awkwardly in response. A strange sensation always enveloped her when in the presence of that overly-obsessed fan, but she couldn't quite figure out why.

Before returning to work, the woman swept her loose long brown hair over her shoulder and adjusted her nametag—it always had the annoying habit of twisting itself around and out of place. She felt the sudden desire to softly hum one of her favorite instrumental songs as she worked—Zelda's lullaby. Strangely, at the exact moment she did so, Link was surrounded by another column of blue light. Likewise, this one extended all the way to the heavens, but this time, he was transported to the correct destination, the Temple of Time. Upon placing the Master Sword in its pedestal, he was returned to his childhood, once and for all.

By now you've probably guessed what name was on the clerk's tag. It was the name her parents, both die-hard gamers, had given her after playing a fantastic game set in ancient times—a name no longer common in their more modern times. Even so, they decided to name her after the beautiful and benevolent princess who was destined to meet her chosen hero over and over again throughout the ages...Zelda.

O.O.O.O.O.O.O

A/N: Although I don't _really_ think that a modern-day Zelda would be just a simple game store clerk, the idea of her selling copies of the "record" of her ancestor's legend was too good to pass up.

Also, if you want to tie this fanfic in with that old Robin Williams _Zelda_ commercial (he named his daughter Zelda after the princess herself), just imagine that the Zelda in this fanfic is her. Neat, huh?


End file.
